No One Saw It Coming
Episodes
The Met Gala began in a dead woman’s closet
03 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Met Gala’s 2026 theme is Costume Art. But rewind almost 100 years ago, and the fight was to get costumes to be called art at all. And if a han...
The telegram that caught a killer
26 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
When he got on the train to London, he thought he got away with it. He thought he got away with murder. But little did he know that something was rac...
Clogged sink doomed a space mission
19 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
It’s 1926 and two men are working in a lab trying to create antifreeze. Instead, they make a thick, black goo that stinks out the lab and blocks th...
Ancient Greek built a steam engine for dinner parties
12 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Long before steam trains, before factories, before the Industrial Revolution, someone figured out how to turn steam into motion. And he did it almost...
She gave her son smallpox. Her bet paid off.
05 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
It was one of the deadliest diseases known to humankind. And just 50 years ago it was officially eradicated. But there’s someone missing from the s...
Cocaine wine: The Pope’s energy drink
29 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
If you looked at it, you wouldn’t bat an eyelid, but this red wine had something in it that today could land you in jail.It was drunk and endorsed ...
A horse race and a murderer invented cinema
22 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Before cinema, before Hollywood, before we even understood how to make pictures move, there was a man constantly reinventing himself. He was a bookse...
Starving for freedom: The prison death that changed Ireland
15 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
As the Irish Revolution raged year after year, there was a space that the British didn’t expect to become places of revolution - prisons.Jailed reb...
The colonial quirk that let slaves dance and create jazz
08 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
When you put on a jazz record, what do you hear? Beyond the trumpet and the sax of course... Well etched into that vinyl and living in that music is...
She faked insanity. Then became a star.
01 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
She was put into an insane asylum at the age of 20. Ten days later she was a celebrity and two years later she had cemented a legacy that would last ...
The mafia bar riot that sparked gay pride
22 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
28 June 1969 was a regular Saturday night at the Stonewall Inn. Until it wasn’t. “The bar lights blinked on and off. I'd never seen that happen ...
The royal roots of French fries
15 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
‘Would you like fries with that?’ It’s a question you’ve likely been asked countless times. But what if the only reason French fries are so p...
Three words brought down the Berlin Wall
08 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 is one of the most famous events of modern history. And with it came a wave of momentous events - the ...
The art heist that made the Mona Lisa famous
01 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
It’s arguably the most famous painting in the world. But back in 1911, the Mona Lisa wasn’t an international icon. So what made the painting so f...
The colony that broke Scotland (and made Great Britain)
25 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
It was meant to be Scotland’s saving grace - a bold plan to build a colony and dominate global trade. But disease, starvation, and frankly just ba...
The Hollywood femme fatale who invented wi-fi
18 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
She was called the most beautiful woman in the world and was seen as an exotic Hollywood star in the 1930s. But Hedy Lamarr was more than that. She w...
The ballet that caused a riot and changed music
12 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
When you combine Russian ballet, French aristocracy, and a little bit of Walt Disney you get a recipe for a riot and one of the most important musica...
The Forgotten Female Codebreakers of WWII
05 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
As the Second World War raged in the Pacific, there was a team of codebreakers in Australia working around the clock intercepting and deciphering Jap...
Time is Chaos. The Calendar Tries (And Fails) to Fix That.
29 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From moons to mind bending maths and revolutions, the story of how we got the modern calendar is messy. Matthew Champion, Associate Professor in His...
The Nativity Scene You Know—And The One You Don’t
22 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You see it on Christmas cards, in shop windows and at your local church. The nativity scene is everywhere at this time of year. But the scene you kn...
An 1843 Lifehack Became a Christmas Tradition
15 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There’s one man you can thank - or curse - for your hand cramp after writing all your Christmas cards. Sir Henry Cole was a ‘dumpy’ Englishman ...
Poison to Beauty: The Story of Botox
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It started as a deadly toxin and became a billion-dollar beauty secret. So how exactly did a poison become the world’s most popular cosmetic fix? ...
The First Computer Was Greek (And Shipwrecked)
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Over a hundred years ago, some divers jumped into the Mediterranean to look for sponges. Instead, they found ancient treasures. Artefacts, statues, j...
William Dalrymple: China’s Game of Thrones
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
She entered the royal palace as a concubine and became the first and only female emperor of China. She was power hungry, a total operator and if you ...
Purple Reign: The Teen Who Bottled Royalty
17 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It was a colour once reserved for emperors and the elite. But a lab mishap soon changed purple forever. Cultural historian and author of the book Th...
The Secret Photos That Shamed America
10 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There’s that phrase a picture says a thousand words... but what does a picture of child labour say? Curator, educator, and photo-historian Beth Sa...
Hairspray, Cigarettes and the Wild History of the Asthma Puffer
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s small enough to fit in your pocket and it’s saved countless lives.The asthma puffer has had a long journey, stretching back thousands of yea...
Beer vs Cholera: The Map That Changed Medicine
27 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
London, 1854. A mysterious and deadly illness is sweeping through Soho, and people are dropping like flies. The leading theory? “Bad air.” But on...
POW Turned Pioneer: The Aussie Who Changed Bipolar Treatment
20 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A Changi prisoner of war. A fridge full of urine. A handful of dead guinea pigs. And one of the most important medical breakthroughs of the 20th cent...
The Untold History of Henrietta Lacks and Her Miracle Cells
13 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most important scientific discoveries of the last century was the first immortal human cell line, known as “HeLa”. It enabled signific...
From Showman to Balloon Spy: The Man Who Changed How Wars Were Fought
06 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
He soared into the sky in a balloon to prove a scientific theory and landed in the world of espionage. This is a story about a man with a fabulous m...
The Butterfly Thief: The Great Museum Heist Still Being Felt Today
29 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s one of the greatest museum heists in Australian history - a theft whose repercussions are still being felt today. And yet, no one really knows...
Norman Ohler: Hitler's Secret Drug Addiction and How It Changed WW2
22 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Yes, Adolf Hitler - the guy who was apparently so 'pure' that he never even drank coffee - was secretly a drug addict. Norman Ohler, author of the b...
What Survives the Crash: The Man Who Gave Planes Memory
15 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This is the story of a gadget lover from Australia who wanted to pirate music and instead created one of the greatest life saving devices in the hist...
The Mafia Bar Riot That Sparked Gay Pride and the LGBTQ+ Movement
08 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
28 June 1969 was a regular Saturday night at the Stonewall Inn. Until it wasn’t. “The bar lights blinked on and off. I'd never seen that happen ...
Coney Island’s Miracle Babies and the Fake Doctor That Saved Them
01 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you had a premature baby in America in the 1900s, chances were they would not survive. That is, until Martin Couney came along...In a bizarre attr...
The Wrong Turn That Started a World War
25 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's the event that's seen as the trigger for World War One, but it didn't happen quite the way the history books let on... Australian author Paul H...
From War to Wardrobe: The Epic Saga of the High Heel
18 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When you picture someone wearing high heels, what do you imagine? I'm guessing it's not horseriding archers on a Persian battlefield... But it turns...
Radium Girls: The Glow in the Dark Women Who Changed Everything
11 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It was the most glamorous job girls could get during WW1... until it turned fatal. In an emotional episode of No One Saw It Coming, author Kate Moor...
Workers. Wages. Revolution: The True Story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs
04 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today trade unions are an integral part of the political landscape, at least in countries like Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada. But this has...
Creepy Guy Meets Recording Device: The True Origins of Reality TV
28 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you thought reality TV began in the ‘90s or early 2000s with MTV’s The Real World or Big Brother, think again… According to Pulitzer-Priz...
Richard Fidler: The Volcano That Toppled Two Empires
21 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What does a volcano in Iceland have to do with the religious and political struggles going on across the world today? Well it turns out, a LOT… Ba...
Treadmills Were Made for Torture
14 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What if the reason being on a treadmill feels like such a punishment is actually by design!?Back in the 1800’s the British Empire started installin...
The Lingerie Makers who put Neil Armstrong on the Moon
07 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You can probably picture that iconic moment, when Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon. But what if his ‘one small step for man’ was actually ...
A Gossip Writer Invented the Renaissance!?
30 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What if Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo weren’t really the best artists of the Renaissance, they were just the subject of some really good PR? ...
The Nazi siege and the secret seeds
23 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Try to stop famine, or save your own life? This was the impossible choice facing the Russian scientists behind the world's first seed bank during Wor...
Where Freestyle Swimming REALLY Comes From
16 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You probably know the names of famous freestyle swimmers - whether it’s Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky, Ian Thorpe or Dawn Fraser. But do you know w...
Cecil Rhodes and his Secret Plan for World Domination
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Bob Hawke, Bill Clinton, Malcolm Turnbull – all were recipients of the Rhodes Scholarship, one of the oldest and most prestigious academic scholars...
When X-Rays Were an Amusement Park Attraction
02 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Before selfies, before CT scans, before social media filters and front-facing cameras… there was the X-Ray. Discovered by accident in a 19th-centur...
Absinthe isn’t Dangerous. It was Framed for Murder
26 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever tried absinthe - that fluorescent green spirit that people used to set on fire in the 90’s? It’s had a pretty bad reputation over...
The Hidden Origins of Chemotherapy
19 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
These days chemotherapy or ‘chemo’ is a common treatment for cancer. But did you know that part of the reason it exists today is because of a ter...
America’s Secret Pact with the Mafia
12 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After the attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941, the United States was on edge. So when it seemed like spies for the Nazis and Mussolini were oper...
The Blunder that Broke the Berlin Wall
05 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The fall of the Berlin Wall on the 9th of November, 1989, is one of the most famous events of modern history. Not only did it lead to the reunificati...
This Tragic Accident Changed How We Think About the Brain
28 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In schools, universities and colleges around the world, a story gets told about a man named Phineas Gage. He was an American railroad foreman, until ...
Marie Antoinette, mother of French fries?
21 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
‘Would you like fries with that?’ It’s the question you’re likely to be asked at McDonalds, Burger King, KFC or Chick-fil-A, no matter where ...
The Secret Weapon that Changed War
14 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Submarine warfare was considered ‘ungentlemanly’ in terms of the rules of engagement of war until relatively recently… or so we thought! Dr Ja...
Stealing the Mona Lisa: The Crime that Created a Legend
07 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
These days people line up for hours to see Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. But at one stage there were so few people wanting to see this Renaissance ...
INTRODUCING — No One Saw It Coming
27 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The bit players, the unexpected twists, the turning point you missed. Join Walkley award-winner Marc Fennell (Stuff the British Stole, Mastermind) as...